Friend of the Grinch
by Alice Meri Fox
Summary: Based on the 2018 animated version. Grinch wasn't always alone in the orphanage.


The Grinch

Stacia Murray-Who stood with her best friend as they watched all the other children laugh and play with their families in the snow. Grinch looked to the younger girl. Her ink black hair and snow complexion gave her a look that had given her the part of Snow White in the orphanage's summer play, now glowed in the window they stood in front of.

She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and smiled a toothy grin. "Come on, Grinch, I made cookies and cocoa." She took him by the hand and took him to the kitchen where her treats lay waiting for them.

Grinch looked across the table at the only other child in the orphanage who hadn't found a family yet and wondered if it would always be this way. "Hey, Stace?" She looked up at him, crumbs and cocoa on the sides of her mouth. "We're always gonna be best friends right?"

"Of course, silly." She smiled brightly at him. "No matter what!"

Over the few years the two had grown close. As Grinch discovered the magic of invention, Stacia found a love of music. "...waiting for all year. It's nestled here in this box..." She was bent over many bits of paper, each having different lines of lyrics and rhymes on them.

"What 'cha workin' on?" Grinch leaned over the other side of the table to look at his friends work.

"It's a new Christmas song. Or it's a new romantic song. I don't know yet." She shrugged as she bent back over her work.

Grinch shook his head at her. "Well, look at this!" He dropped his latest invention on the corner of the table where the least amount of spare papers were. It was a strange thing, having a pencil in one hand and a paper in the other. "It's a music writer! You sing it the tune you want it to write and it writes it on the staff paper for you."

"Oh, wow! That's so cool!"

"Well, go on! Try it out!" She picked up one of the many papers on the table and began singing out loud. Her small voice was clear and filled the room with it's bright sound. Grinch watched as she closed her eyes and started to improvise lines, getting lost in her music.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw three adults at the door to the common room, looking in at the pair. One was Mrs. Krampus, the mean old lady who hated him and ran the orphanage, the other two had to be prospective parents. They were blond haired and brown eyed and looked only at Stacia as she sung with no regard of what was happening around her.

Grinch quickly stopped his friend and pointed to the adults in the doorway. Stacia gasped and gathered up her papers as quick as she could as Grinch picked up his invention. Both of them made to run from the room from the second door into the play room but Mrs. K's nasally voice assaulted their ears. "Stacia, stay put. Mr. and Mrs. Marquardt would like to speak to you."

Stacia looked to Grinch with sadness. Any one who had ever gotten talked to had been adopted not so long after, the only exception being Grinch, who no one ever wanted. Grinch only smiled weakly at his friend, he knew what was coming, and that he had no chance of stopping it.

Stacia left the orphanage the next day, all of her things taken with her. Everything but the music writer he had made her. And when Christmas came, he was left alone, with the hateful Mrs. Krampus, and his memories of cookies and cocoa.

XXX

Grinch flew through air, having seriously miscalculated his catapult, straight for the giant Christmas tree in Whoville City Square. He fell and lit the lights of the tree before he finally freed himself of the ornaments that held him captive in the tree and landed behind it. He was surrounded. Christmas everything was everywhere. And he had to go through it. All of it. Alone. Like that last Christmas when no one had cared.

He was half way through the crowd when the mayor called Ms. Stacia Murray-Who to the stage. No, it couldn't be, could it? Was it her? A woman with ink black hair and the palest of skin walked on the stage with a gathering of children behind her. It had to be her. Who were the children? Were they her's?

She opened her mouth and he was lost to his memory. When she had sung hunched over her papers as she scribbled out lyrics as he tinkered with his latest invention. The song was reaching it's climax as she and the children sung with bright smiles on their faces.

"I don't have a lot to give,

So I hope that you'll forgive,

It's nestled here in this box,

Without chains, latch, or locks.

Nestled here, my precious part,

All I can give is my heart."

The children stopped singing and let Stacia give the last lines in a magnificent solo Grinch had never heard from her but had always dreamed she'd give. Her eyes seemed to be searching the crowd for something as they clapped and cheered for her and the children, and he let himself believe for a moment that she was looking for him. Then he shook himself back to reality. He had to get out of here.

XXX

Her eyes swept the crowd like she had every year, hoping against hope that he might be there. She had returned to the orphanage with her new parents that first year with cookies and cocoa for her and Grinch to find him gone. Mrs. Krampus hadn't even noticed his absence but had been piling all of his things into a box for the dump. She had managed to save the music maker he had made for her and that was it.

Over the years, despite her adoptive parents insistence to go into professional singing, she took over the role as head of the Whoville Orphanage. She always made sure that no child under her care ever went through what Grinch did. Everyone was happy and healthy and much loved despite the lack of adoptive parents. Every year Stacia did give into her adoptive parents and let herself be signed up to perform at the tree lighting ceremony with the condition that her orphans sung with her.

They had agreed to her terms and now she sung for him in front of the entire city. But he never showed. Fifty seven years. It was a long time, even for Whos. And she had shared her heart out to him every year, only to be disappointed at his absence. But she still held out hope for him.

She and the children exited the stage, and she was approached by Mike Milton-Who, a long time admirer of her work. Not as the head of the orphanage, but as a singer. She had long been the sole bearer of his attentions, but she never returned them. "That was beautiful, Stacy," Mike said as the walked down the stairs from the stage.

"Thank you, Mr. Milton-Who," she said, not bothering to correct her name, he never got it right. She turned to her children. "Alright, everyone, you know the rules: no pushing other people, no hitting others with snowballs, be back here before 8."

"Yes, Miss Murray-Who," the children chimed before they ran off to play in the snow.

"How many times have I told you? My name is Mike." He carried on the conversation as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked away.

"As you've said, Mr. Milton-Who, but my parents raised me to be proper, and proper I shall be," she said as she expertly weaved through the crowd over snow and ice. Mike wasn't so balanced and had a hard time following her, almost falling more than once. She used this to her advantage and quickly moved away from him, hiding herself amongst the crowd.

XXX

Oh, his plan was brilliant! He was going to steal Christmas! It would be perfect! He had it all mapped out. As he pulled up to the orpahanage in his sleigh, he saw the fire going in the common room through the window. Perfect. Mrs. K wouldn't know what hit her. He entered silently through the kitchen and made his way through the familiar halls. Halls he'd tried to forget. He pushed away memories of cookies and cocoa as he tiptoed to the common room.

The fire wasn't roaring but neither was it dead. A glass of wine sat beside a plate of cookies and a mug of milk sat on the small table next to the couch. He laughed to himself quietly as he reached out to the form on the table, but stoped short in surprise as a slim pale hand reached for the wine glass next to it.

"Hello, Santa," a calm voice said from the other side of the couch. "How are your rounds going tonight?" He immediately recognized that voice. Stacia took a sip of her wine and replaced the glass before she continued. "I know you're busy, but as always I have a special gift under the tree, if you could be so kind as to take it with you." She sighed as she picked off a piece of a cookie. "I made him a pair of mittens this year. I hope he likes it. I'm not very good at knitting yet, but thanks for the needles last year. All of the kids loved the new scarves I was able to make before spring came."

Grinch stood behind her in shock. Is this what she did? Sit and wait up for Santa and then talk with him? He looked under the tree for the 'special gift' she had mentioned. It was sitting within easy reach of him in shiny green wrapping paper and red ribbon. It was addressed to him. She sent him gifts through Santa? Every year he had found a single gift on his door step. A gift that quite frequently was destroyed very soon after it's discovery. Now he felt guilty.

She had continued her talking. He looked at her and was surprised when he saw a silk black sleeping mask over her eyes. Then he had remembered: no one has ever seen Santa. Apparently Stacia talked to him on a yearly basis. "I know you can't talk to me, but could you give me some sign that he's okay? Just a little hint? Something so I don't have to worry so much?" Her form sank tiredly into the couch cushions as she began to give into her exhaustion.

He watched as she dipped deeper into the recesses of sleep. When her head rested on the arm of the couch he pulled the old blanket off the back and placed it over her. Then he turned back to the tree and saw all of the gifts underneath, sloppily wrapped as only small uncoordinated children could do. Then more at the back of the tree, wrapped as his, obviously from Stacia to the children.

He couldn't do it. Not to those kids, and definitely not to Stacia. He took the present for himself but left the rest of them under the tree and exited from the kitchen flue. It would be his only gift to the children, to her, that he would leave them there.

XXX

Where were all the Christmas decorations in town? Stacia held the hands of two of her kids as they all walked through the streets of Whoville, not a wreath was in sight, not a twinkle light, not a sprig of mistletoe. They entered Whoville Square and were pleased to see that the tree was still in place. The entire town was already there, the circle beginning. They joined in their hands together with the other citizens and joined in the song.

The horn could be heard all throughout the town. The circles broke and a giant sleigh piled with presents entered the town square, a familiar green figure balancing atop like a Christmas star. Stacia watched as Grinch addressed the crowd, apologizing for taking the gifts. His eyes found hers before he left with his head hung low, the look on her face etched into his memory. The look of hopeful joy.

Stacia looked across the Square to the little girl Grinch had apologized to, Cindy-Lou

Who, and dashed over quickly through the crowd gathering their things. "Cindy! Donna!"

"Hello, Ms. Stacia," Cindy said politely to the Orphanage Worker.

"Cindy, I need to know, do you know where Grinch lives?" Stacia knelt down in front of the little girl and put both hands on her shoulders.

"I looks like he lives on Mount Crumpet," Cindy said as she watched him and his dog cross the bridge out of town. "He looks lonely."

"We should invite him to Christmas dinner at our house," Donna said as she knelt down too.

"If you do, would you mind stopping by the orphanage and bringing him something for me?"

"Sure, you and the kids could come to dinner too," Cindy said excitedly.

"One of my helpers has already set up dinner for the kids tonight, but I'll still come if you want."

"Yeah, Mr. Grinch will probably be really happy to see you!"

XXX

Grinch walked down the mountain, the cocoa thermos in his hands to keep him warm. The girl, Cindy-Lou, had given it to him. From Stacia. She had sent him cocoa and cookies, like the ones she used to make. The cookies had been demolished in a small fit of stress eating almost as soon as Cindy-Lou had left. But the smell of the cocoa stopped him before he could finish it in a daze.

As he was pulled by Cindy-Lou into the house he looked around for Stacia, hoping she too had been invited. He got distracted by Briklebaum approaching him enthusiastically, and then dinner was announced. He spotted her near the other end of the table talking to the sleepwalking Who he had poured a glass of milk for the night before.

It was chance she looked across the table and met his eyes with a smile. After dinner he quickly made his way over to her. "Hi."

She wrapped him in a warm hug. "I was so worried about you, Grinch! I came by the next day and you were gone. Of course Krampus doesn't know where you are, and I'm left worried for years on end with only rumors that you come into town." She pushed him back a bit to look at him.

"You came to see me?"

"With cookies and cocoa."

He hugged her close. "Oh, Stace, I'm so sorry. I left everything behind too. You're music writer... Krampus probably threw it away, but I've been working on another one."

"She didn't throw it away," she said as she pulled away again. "I have it."

Grinch smiled. "You do?" Stacia smiled and nodded. His smile fell as he remembered the gifts she sent. "Stace, all those gifts you sent. I didn't know who they came from. I... I destroyed them..."

"That's all right, I never put my name on them. But I'm still glad you got them." She looked around and saw that the party was winding down. "Do you wanna come back to the orphanage?"

"For cocoa?" He held up the the thermos she had sent.

"And cookies," she laughed at his awkward gesture.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

He helped her with her coat, and they walked arm-in-arm out into the cold, ready to start their friendship anew.


End file.
